


We got a baby boy (for a week)!

by heibai



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, and somehow onew is also here, comedy????, ongnieljin, passing mentions of some wannaone boys, the bear family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-08 01:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11635767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heibai/pseuds/heibai
Summary: Daniel’s older sister rarely visited him in his humble apartment.But everytime she does, she will always bring some sort of… nuisance with her.At the other side of the spectrum is Seongwoo, who can always be found lurking around Daniel's humble apartment. Somehow.Which is perfect.Because Daniel will need an extra set of helping hands to get through the week without accidentally dropping his one year old nephew to the ground.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this post](https://www.instagram.com/p/BWWuJ8Clp6k/?taken-by=wanna_one.boys) from instagram user wanna_one.boys

“I need your help.”

 

Daniel’s older sister rarely visited him in his humble apartment (usually it’s always him who shamelessly crashed onto her two floored house in the rich-people-neighborhood and raided her well stocked fridge). But everytime she does, she will always bring some sort of… nuisance with her.

 

Once she came holding a huge box and asked him to help her sort out her bills. (“Tax return is still five months away…” “I like to be prepared.”)

 

Then another time she came with her electric mixer and a butt load of baking ingredients. (“What the hell?” “My division’s having a bake-off competition. I need to practice but Jinki is doing his recordings and he shooed me out.”)

 

Today, she came in with a bundle in her arms and a gigantic suitcase in tow.

 

“What now…”

 

She sashayed past him with her bundle of joy and automatically expected that Daniel will fetch her suitcase and follow her along. Her assumption was correct though. Even if he did let out a protesting whine, Daniel still took the unsurprisingly heavy suitcase and rolled it into his living room.

 

“If you want me to go with you to whatever holiday destination you’re going just to be Woojin’s live-in nanny, the answer is no.” After letting the concrete-box-on-a-wheel roll and stop right beside her leg, Daniel plopped down onto his sofa and crossed his arms in defiance.

 

“Not even if I tell you we’re going to Fiji?” She let out a laugh when she saw Daniel’s look of exasperation, before snooping her head low to coo at her little, one year old son, “look at uncle Dan, isn’t he so stubborn like you??? My little dumplingggg.”

 

“Yena come on, tell me what it is,” no matter how much he loves his sister, he just wanted her to drop whatever assignment she has to him and take the little human with her. Not that he hates babies per se, no, but Yena’s acts of being a disgustingly affectionate new mother is starting to grate on his nerves. Maybe it’s a very late onset of familial jealousy, maybe Daniel never actually really clicked with her husband and the idea that they just so easily created a half-and-half chimera of Yena and him is making his skin crawl.

 

“I have to go on an emergency business trip, can you take care of Woojin?” He knew it. With how luck has been playing with him all his life, Daniel should’ve known what favour she’d ask from him after seeing little Woojin reaching out from his blankets, then the extremely overpacked suitcase, then the faint shimmering of sadness on her face. _He_ _should have known._

 

“Where’s Jinki in this picture?”

 

“He’s also away. Recordings. You know, doing his thing. In Japan.”

 

“Baby sitter?”

 

“Don’t trust them.”

 

“And you trust me?!”

 

Yena had to sharply shush Daniel down because his yell was getting too loud for Woojin’s soft, developing eardrum. As if her shush wasn’t loud also. And soft my ass, growing up around Jinki’s power belts will never, ever result in someone having a soft eardrum.

 

“You’re his uncle! A baby sitter is just… a stranger!” Not aware of Daniel’s shock and unwillingness to do whatever it is she was planning to do, she got up from the small ottoman she was sitting on and trusted Woojin to Daniel’s arm. Clueless, panicked arm. “I don’t trust strangers around my Woojin.”

 

_But you trust a clumsy college student. Great logic you got there sis._

 

She dug around her mom-sized handbag and placed a soft blue notebook on Daniel’s coffee stained coffee table. From the numerous colourful tabs jutting out of its pages, Daniel knew it was less a notebook and more a comprehensive almanac of how to take care of a human baby. Complete with citations and a reference list at the last page of each chapters.

 

“Everything you need is in there, and I’ve packed all his clothes in separate labeled bags for each day. You’ll have to help me take out his food and formula from my car later, oh and I also got his pram. Diapers, toys, story books, all sorted out for a sev--five day stay. All good?”

 

Yena turned around and found two sets of eyes looking at him. Daniel’s were looking utterly terrified, and Woojin’s were looking utterly _excited._

 

“Awww look! Woojin-ie can’t wait to play with uncle Dan, isn’t he?? Isn’t heeee.”

 

“Yena wait…” Daniel had to cut her cloyingly sweet baby talk because he believed that she didn’t understand how dire the situation she put him in was. He couldn’t even move his body when he talks because he was so afraid that he’ll drop this extremely fragile being, “I can’t… you know I can’t… handle… babies.”

 

This was the rare time that his sister ever let out an understanding sigh and just for a moment let herself be completely centered in the present. She only ever used it in special occasions, because she knew, if she used it everyday, her life will be too easy for her. And where’s the challenge in that?

 

“You’ve been there since the day he was born, right?” She kneeled down in front of Daniel and let Woojin’s little hand grasp on her index finger, shaking it around and smiling when she heard him let out a bubbly laugh, “I even let you hold him first, before me, before Jinki. You know I trust you. Hmm, Euigeon-ie?”

 

Although, she didn’t allow Daniel the chance to be lulled into a false sense of security. With a sharp slap on his arm, she sprung herself back to her feet and spout out the last of her instructions (about which number is her cell and which is her hotel landline and which is his GP and which is her secretary, et cetera, et cetera) before she commanded Daniel to follow her out and help her haul in the other three crates of Woojin’s necessities.

 

“Don’t worry, Jinki will pick him up this Sunday!”

 

“You said he’s only going to be with me for five days!!”

 

_Oops._

  


__ _ _ _ __

  


**Day 1 - 10 AM**

 

Seongwoo showed up at his door at 10 AM sharp. Just like usual.

 

He’s like Daniel’s milk man, his news boy, and his postman all rolled into one overly attractive package. Because he will show up at Daniel’s doorstep with all three of said item, day in and day out. (Although, the milk is interchangeable to anything that was missing in Daniel’s fridge.)

 

“So what, you’re a dad now?” Seongwoo immediately scooted down to little Woojin, who was sitting so nicely in his pram, and let out a long coo while Daniel disappeared behind the kitchen counter to set up some plates for the two of them.

 

“Don’t do that. You remind me of Yena and I don’t want to think about her right now.” The smell of freshly toasted bread wafted out from the brown paper bag that Seongwoo gave to him together with the carton of egg. No need to see the item to know what it was. Vietnamese pork rolls. “Aww, so sweet. You always know what I’m craving.”

 

“You texted me about it last night.” In no time, Seongwoo was hovering around him, enticed by the sound of serrated knife breaking through the crispy french bread.

 

“Can’t you just… go along with my fantasy that we’re telepathic for once.” Not wanting Seongwoo to ruin his handiwork, and to an extent, his only ability to do shit in the kitchen (and that is to cut sandwiches in half), Daniel waved him off while still holding the sharp knife on his hand. A sure way to get Seongwoo off his back.

 

Usually Seongwoo will still pitch in an attempt at being a food burglar, which Daniel secretly loves, even if it was an extremely childish behaviour at best. Because then he get to chase Seongwoo off the kitchen and give his arm a potent slap, or give his _bum_ a potent slap. So then, when he didn’t sense any further nagging from the other party, Daniel finally looked up from his cutting board to see what Seongwoo was up to.

 

“Are you fu- are you _really_ serious.”

 

He saw Seongwoo kneeling in front of Woojin’s pram, holding a steering wheel toy on his left hand and his tried and trusted (and slightly outdated) camcorder on his right.

 

“You really are going to make my nephew a victim of your… vlogging hysteria.”

 

Seongwoo gave him a little pout before focusing his attention back to the screen of his camcorder, “just look at how cute he is. I already have a nice title for the series. _‘First time dads: one week trying to keep a one year old alive.’_ ” he said it in one of his ‘idea pitch’ tone while waving the hand that held the steering wheel toy. It went off, and caused Woojin to let out a disgustingly cute giggle, “I can already _see_ my subscriber count tripling from this.”

 

“You need consent from his parents and I bet my sister won’t,-”

 

“Look at it for yourself,” he didn’t let Daniel finish before sliding into the kitchen and shoving the screen of his phone up on Daniel’s nose. On it is a chat correspondence between Seongwoo and his sister.

 

 _‘Noona, while Woojin is staying with Danny,_  
_is it okay if I feature him in my vlog channel?_ _  
-O.S.W’_

 

 _‘Oh gosh yes!_  
_Yes of course you can!_  
_Please make him look cute, ok??_  
_Jinki and I will miss him so much when we’re away,_  
_watching a vlog of him will save our sanity TT.TT_ _  
-L.Y.N’_

 

 _‘Aye of course I will!_ __  
_You’re the best!  
__-O.S.W’_

 

Daniel couldn’t believe it. Not only did he have to take care of a baby, now he’ll also take care of an overgrown, camcorder-holding, man baby, “how can you have my sister’s phone number…”

 

“She gave it to me,” Seongwoo mumbled out semi intelligibly as he munched through a mouthful of french bread and cilantro leaves, his food burglary attempt a success this time, “so she could spy on you.”

 

Daniel tried to make the sigh that escaped from his bitten lips to sound as if he was gravely mad. But Seongwoo gave him a wink, for no reason at all, and Daniel found his annoyance quickly simmering away. He still tried to channel his absent frustration on the bunch of banana he found inside Yena’s fresh fruit crate after remembering that Woojin still hasn’t gotten his snack, but it only made him look like an uncoordinated ape unsuccessfully trying to peel the fruit. Embarrassing.

 

 _Half a banana for his morning snack, cut up to bite size pieces,_ it said on the almanac. And half a banana it is.

 

“Oy! Dad number 2! What’s taking you so long with the breakfast? Is it so hard to cut up a sandwich?”

 

If that line found its way to Seongwoo’s final video edit, Daniel will half _his_ banana. (It did make it in, and no, Daniel did not went through with his threat.)

  


_ _ _ _ _

  


**Day 1 - 6 PM**

 

“Can I spend the night? I want to film a sleeping Woojin, imagine how cuuuute.”

 

Silence.

 

“I will help change his diaper this time. And no, I won’t be just manning the wet wipey dispensary station. Promise.”

 

Silence.

 

“I will be the one to wake up in the middle of the night, _like I ever sleep before 4 AM anyway,_ if he cried. I will also be the one to make his formula with one hand while juggling the wailing narwhal.”

 

Daniel finally sighed his defeat and that was all it took for Seongwoo to let out a loud hoot.

 

“Look! Even Woojin is happy.” He said while rolling on the floor, stopping in front of Woojin and holding both of his hands up in the air. Like a magician, happy with his trick.

 

The kid was clapping along to the children program playing on Daniel’s TV set. But he was too spent after trying to prepare a pasta dinner for three (the first time he ever done so in his life) and Daniel couldn’t find it in him a power to argue. So be it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woojin's dad in this story is Shinee's Onew I just picked a random singer with a 'Lee' surname and his mom is a Korean ballerina LOL honestly I just wiki-ed 'Kang / Lee surname' and chose some names that I think will sound good.  
> ps: the chapter length will vary and will mostly be in the short side because honestly this will be just scenario dump of ongniel trying to be domestic and cute for no reason but to be cute


	2. Day 2

**Day 2 - 9 AM**

 

Daniel planned on skipping class today, not wanting to haul his two babies up to uni and then regret his poor decision making skill come lunch time.

 

But Woojin has been behaving so nicely since he arrived, and Seongwoo really does live up to his claims and has proven that he  _ does _ have a natural talent for taking care of babies.

 

Woojin was being such a dream boy that he didn’t even let out a peep of cries last night (that might be because Seongwoo came to the rescue and got him back to bed in a snap, while Daniel was snoring along like nothing ever happened). He doesn’t even seem to be bothered that his mom was nowhere to be seen. All it took for the little one to smile was having one good look of his uncles’ faces (one by blood and one by illegal adoption). 

 

_ Yena will be piiiiissed.  _

 

She did sound a bit annoyed when Daniel told her over the phone that Woojin was going along just fine. (“Did you trust me your son only to see me struggle.” “No. Maybe. Yes.” “Be glad I love you two so much because I’m  _ this  _ far from calling child services.”)

 

But well, Daniel got his beauty sleep, Woojin just ate his breakfast, and Seongwoo’s camera was fully charged. So there they were, the three of them, huddled at the front corner of Daniel’s ‘drug and addiction’ lecture. Daniel was trying his best to take notes and to not let Seongwoo’s quiet coos plus Woojin’s blubbers  _ plus  _ the soft whirring of Seongwoo’s camcorder to distract him from what was happening right in front of him. 

 

He told Seongwoo to wait outside in the garden, it was a good day anyway. But Seongwoo was persistent that the wind was too much for his little bird and no he didn’t want to wait in the library because  _ ‘it smells like my grandma in there’ _ . 

 

(The fact that little Woojin wouldn’t let go of his vice grip on Daniel’s sleeve was also a big reason why he relented and let the two of them into the lecture hall.) 

 

“Since when did you two have a baby?” Sungwoon the lecturer assistant tried to humor him when Daniel walked to the front to return the electronic clicker at the end of the class. The guy was never a nosy person, but it was hard not to be nosy when oddness was staring right at your face.

 

“Since yesterday.” 

 

Daniel glanced back at his two babies when he heard Sungwoon let out a tiny giggle, and saw the two of them being surrounded by half of the female (and a quarter of the male) population of his lecture. From the look on their face, it was clear that they  _ loved  _ the attention. 

 

_ Oh god oh Lord oh shit he’s taking after Jinki. _

  
  


_ _ _ _ _

  
  


**Day 2 - 12 PM**

 

He couldn’t believe it. 

 

He couldn’t believe how fast the rumour spread, just like wildfire in the middle of the drought season. 

 

It started off as an innocent and accurate  _ ‘oh that’s Daniel’s nephew, isn’t he cute?’  _ But in less than three hours, it quickly got twisted into  _ ‘Daniel and Seongwoo finally moved in together and adopted a child.’  _

 

“It was you, wasn’t it.” He stole his glares at Seongwoo at the same time as trying to bounce Woojin on his lap, keeping the baby calm and entertained while they were having their lunch in the cafeteria. “I left you two for an hour and this is what I came back to. Amazing. Wow. I can’t believe it.” 

 

Seongwoo looked up from his laptop with a piece of celery jutting out from his mouth, “I mean, isn’t it the truth.” 

 

Daniel tried not to mind the gigglish whispering of two girls walking past their table and continued on, “we are not… I mean, not  _ yet _ . You know I don’t like it if our…  _ thing  _ got blown out of proportion.”

 

Seeing how distressed Daniel was looking, Seongwoo took an instant pity of him. A maternal instinct well honed, as it seemed. He got up from his seat and made his way around the table, pulling up a chair beside Daniel’s, “come on, it’s gonna be ok.” 

 

“Seongwoo I’m,-”

 

But with Seongwoo’s arm slung lazily around his shoulders, pulling him back so that Daniel was leaning against his chest, Daniel once again couldn’t find it in him to continue his argument. 

 

Seongwoo perched his chin on Daniel’s shoulder and his lips were only an exhale away from his neck. And Woojin, Woojin was facing them, one hand holding a carrot stick and the other holding Seongwoo’s fingers. 

 

They must’ve looked so sweet (and picturesque, and utterly enviable) that Daniel just couldn’t help but let out an embarrassed, but happy, smile.

  
  


_ _ _ _ _

  
  


**Day 2.5 - 2 AM**

 

Daniel was about to take a shower, after chipping at his assignments and washing the dishes and putting the dirty clothes in the washing machine and prepping for breakfast and… you know, all the deal, when he heard a succession of loud yells coming from his bedroom. 

 

“WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT HAPPENED?!” He didn’t even care about the two senior couple residing at the unit under him when Daniel barged into his room like a terrified mother elephant. 

 

Only to be greeted by the most baffling of scenes.

 

Woojin was laughing, hysterically. His old diaper discarded,  _ dirty side down _ , on the floor and he was waving the new one around like it was a trophy for some really important achievement. Then there was Seongwoo, yelling, almost crying, a towel over his face as he moaned, “he pissed all over my face!” 

 

He shouldn’t have laughed. A sensible person would have patted the victim on his back and help him clean up. But sensible people are rare beings in this world and so he did what a normal person would do. 

 

Daniel joined his nephew and he laughed so hard he fell on his knees with tears running down his eyes. 

 

“Stop reminding me of that.” 

 

Thirty minutes later, after they’d all calmed down and Seongwoo had managed to bring Woojin back from his laughter induced sudden burst of energy (and the dirty diaper situation was solved, cleaned, and the floor mopped), they all finally could lay down on the bed and turn in for the night.

 

But Daniel still would break out to giggles every five minutes or so and Seongwoo was getting a bit too embarrassed to let it slide.

 

“I can’t help it, it’s hilarious.” 

 

Seongwoo only huffed to that and rolled himself away from Daniel. It was the second day of him staying over and it’s magical how it only took Daniel one good day to allow it to happen without Seongwoo having to beg him for it. It was even  _ Daniel _ who asked Seongwoo to leave all his editings for tomorrow morning and to just join him in bed.

 

“Aww come on don’t be such a pissy pants,” Daniel tried to win back his tantrum throwing man-baby with a few pokes and pinches, but he gave up after seeing no end to Seongwoo’s head shaking like an upset toddler. 

 

“Well… if that’s what you want.” 

 

Daniel silently counted to see how long it took for Seongwoo to gave up his childish front. 30 seconds. Took him half a minute before Seongwoo quietly snuck up behind Daniel and draped his arm around his waist, snuggling his face to Daniel’s freshly washed hair.

 

“Love you,” Seongwoo mumbled out two and a half minutes later in his sleep laden voice. Daniel knew. He counted. 

 

“Hm... me too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, when I first started writing this I didn't plan for Seongwoo and Daniel to be a romantic couple?? But in the middle of chapter two something snapped inside me and I was like "fuck it"  
> So there you have it, ongniel is official in this story


	3. Day 3

**Day 3 - 5 AM**

 

“Yena…”

 

“-then she said,  _ ‘how dare you leave your one year old with your younger brother, how negligent, you’re a bad mother’  _ and I said,-”

 

“Yena.”

 

“-, _ ’bitch you didn’t even breastfeed your babies because you were afraid it’ll ruin your tits!’ _ I mean, can you believe her?!,-”

 

“Yena!” 

 

On his fifth attempt on trying to get his sister’s attention away from her rant about some jerkass coworker of hers, Daniel finally succeeded, “... it’s 5 AM.” He was sitting on the ottoman in front of his sofa, blankly staring at the darkness of his living room and mindlessly listening to the occasional chirps of bird from beyond the window. Daniel really wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose to physically convey how tired he was feeling, but he found himself unable to move his body from the sheer lack of sleep he was currently suffering through.

 

“I know.”

 

From the sound of hard plastic and metal clacking around each other, and also the hard to miss echoes in her voice, it was easy for him to tell that she was getting ready for her day. 

 

“I slept at 3 AM last night.” 

 

“I could tell from your voice,” she snickered. And that snicker dissolved into a long exhale, which slowly morphed into a soft hum. A painfully familiar lullaby their mother would always sing to them before they went to sleep. 

 

“Do you want me to bring the phone to Woojin?” Daniel sighed when he lost the argument he had within himself that’s been happening throughout their conversation. Of how he knew that he shouldn’t be mad at his sister for calling him at the oddest times of the day. He understood how hard it was for her to do all this, despite her apparent lack of worry. 

 

“It’s ok. You can sing it to him yourself.” 

 

He wanted to argue that he’s never been the singer in their family, but decided to keep it to himself, “have a good day, I’ll keep you up to date if anything happens.”

 

But then she said  _ ‘don’t worry’ _ followed soon after with the word  _ ‘vlog’  _ and Daniel started to feel that maybe his annoyance towards her was a little bit warranted. 

  
  


_ _ _ _ _ 

  
  


**Day 3 - 4 PM**

 

Seongwoo had just finished his tutorial class and they were walking down the ‘scenic route’ at the back of their campus, heading to the nearby train stop after Daniel nagged him to do so. He felt like his ass had been turned into flat pancakes from how long he was sitting at the library’s sofa. At least he managed to read to Woojin three chapters of the first Harry Potter book, so it wasn’t  _ totally _ a loss.

 

“I told you to just go in my class.” Seongwoo was of course, afraid that Woojin would somehow catch a cold, or even pneumonia, from being exposed to the harsh nature for longer than five minutes, but he was defeated in a 2-to-1 votings when both Daniel and Woojin looked at him with their pouts and rosy noses.

 

“And further spread the rumour of us hitching off to America to get married? Never.” 

 

Fortunately, the afternoon was indeed far too nice that it felt wrong to nurse any sense of negative feelings. Not too sunny, not too cloudy, not too hot nor too windy. A perfect day for two people to walk down a paved pathway, secretly linking their hands together behind the cooling shade provided by Woojin’s pram. 

 

Unfortunately, they were not the only one who thought so too.

 

Parents. Kids. Families. So many of them. Seongwoo and Daniel made one turn towards the public playground and suddenly it’s toddler land. 

 

“Should we run?” Daniel whispered under his breath, “should we turn back? I  _ really  _ don’t want to socialise.”

 

He should’ve known that his words would fall to deaf ears, as not even five seconds have passed between his declaration of concern and Seongwoo popping open his camcorder. Off he went chasing for a ‘perfect shot’, whatever and wherever that was. He effectively left Daniel to fend for himself against an incoming horde of young mothers with all their small talks and default questions such as:

 

“What’s his name??” “How old is he??” “How old are you? You’re so young to be a father!” “What formula does he have he looks so healthy!” 

 

Seongwoo definitely didn’t help when he swooped into the scene, apparently after managing to capture his  _ perfect shot _ , fifteen minutes too late into the chaos and slithered his arm around Daniel’s shoulders. All done with the grace of a diving pelican. 

 

“Someone invited us to a play date this weekend dearie,” after he gave the exasperated Daniel a kiss on his cheek, Seongwoo turned around to give a pair of women (a pair of moms?), and their 3 year old daughter a friendly handwave and a reassuring nod. “Only if you’re okay with that, of course.” 

 

In front of them, the mothers were somehow instantly turned into a bunch of giggling and  _ ooh-ing  _ and  _ ahh-ing  _ school children. All the while, the smile on Daniel’s lips had just started to twitch. 

 

“We get a bit busy on the weekends, don't we,  _ love,  _ I don't think that's _a_ _  good idea _ .”

 

Ignoring that Woojin was enjoying the time of his life being the center of attention of this congregation of moms, Daniel mumbled out a few words of apologies and  _ ‘we have to be somewhere else’s _ before he practically jogged away from the playground’s picnic area. 

 

Woojin was looking very confused and slightly upset from the sudden change, his head moving from one point to the other. Not knowing if he wanted to focus on the group of people waving at him at his side, or at the sight of the colourful jungle gym right ahead of him.

 

Seongwoo, who was trailing a few steps behind Daniel with an amused snicker of his own, noticed Woojin’s distress and his little arm reaching out towards the playground. He was pointing at the seesaw that was adorned with a painting of a cartoon snake as he made this fizzling sound that was a clear admirable attempt at imitating a snake’s hiss.

 

Without warning or any other preamble, Seongwoo quickly unbuckled Woojin from his seat and they both ran away from Daniel. Both giggling, both happy, and both waiting on one end of the seesaw while Daniel’s worried shout was quickly changed into a defeated chuckle. 

 

“15 minutes?” 

 

Woojin’s ability to chameleon-ise his pleading technique to charm whichever party was in need of being charmed will guarantee that he’ll grow up into a dangerously  _ charming _ young adult. Because he somehow knew Seongwoo was a goner for pouts, and he  _ also  _ somehow knew that Daniel can’t ever say no to those hopeful puppy eyes. 

 

“Of course, of course.”  _ For the two of you, what will I not do.  _

 

But then Daniel decided to turn the situation a little bit. A payback for what Seongwoo had done to him earlier.

 

“Oh my god! How heavy are the two of you?!” He said in a theatrically exaggerated way. Seongwoo rolled his eyes to Daniel who only pretended to sit on the seesaw but kept all his weight on his feet. A trick as old as time, but it still amused Woojin to no end.

 

“Danny you really need to work on your acting,” Seongwoo sighed when Daniel finally stopped fooling around and properly sat down at the seesaw, “it’s pretty rusty.” And as if the universe was in a secret collusion with Seongwoo, the air was suddenly filled with the sound of rust grinding against metal. 

 

“One artsy person in the family is more than enough for me.”

 

“But what if Woojin wants to be an artsy person when he grows up?” Seongwoo asked the question like it could be answered by both Daniel and Woojin. Although it was Woojin’s cheek he was nuzzling his nose to, as the kid still couldn’t say anything more comprehensible that  _ baba, mama _ and  _ kaka,  _ Daniel has to be the one who stepped in and answered it for him.

 

“Then I’ll accept two.” 

 

It was as if he was referring to no one else but the three of them, to their own little family of make-believe.

 

It was as if he forgot Jinki existed. That poor lad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never knew I'll love writing Daniel's fictional sister so much LOL


	4. Day 4

**Day 4 - 6 AM**

 

Yena called him again that morning. She argued that she was giving him a slack by calling him at five thirty instead of five AM sharp. But Daniel was having none of her absurd reasonings.

 

“How’s Seongwoo? Is he doing well?” She asked him while brushing her teeth. Daniel contemplated on recording the sound of her gargling to be used in future blackmail attempts, but resolved to just let out a very disgustingly saccharine attempt at being cute. He was feeling a bit mean and Daniel knew Yena _hates_ it when he tries to act cute.

 

“What about me??? You’re not going to ask if your own little brother is doing well???”

 

The sound of her dry heaving successfully brought about a smile to start off the day.

 

“I will call you at 4 AM tomorrow. Just watch me.”

 

Like a fly being enticed by the smell of rotten meat, Seongwoo stumbled out from Daniel’s bedroom right after Yena terminated their call. Seongwoo somehow loves seeing Daniel act cute, even though for most people it was more comparable to mental torture rather than something that would entice a feeling of adoration. Although, the reason behind why he could stomach the massive wave of secondhand embarrassment might not be as romantic as you might think. Seongwoo’s favourite comedy series is Channel 4’s _‘Peep Show’._ Cringe comedy is his comfort zone. And Daniel’s cuteness is cringe at its truest sense. No wonder why he loves it so much.

 

“You’re up early,” Seongwoo muttered out as he plopped himself unceremoniously onto Daniel’s lap.

 

“Do you really have to sit on top of me? The sofa is literally 80% empty.” Daniel casually reached out for the tv remote before turning on the tv and tuning it to a morning news channel, as if an occasion of _the_ Ong Seongwoo snuggling his face on one's neck was a daily occurrence. Seongwoo, Mr. July on last year’s photography club charity male pinup calendar. Probably the most coveted unavailable bachelor before that first year Park Jihoon kid enrolled to the international relations program last trimester and took that torch away from him.

 

But yes, it _was_ a daily occurrence. Daniel has woken up to this man’s dragon breath so often the novelty of it has worn thin so long ago.

 

Although, when he felt a sudden change on Seongwoo’s demeanor, even after everything they’ve seen and done, Daniel has to admit he still felt a little bit overwhelmed. Seongwoo’s mouth originally was only barely grazing against the skin of Daniel’s neck, an innocent gesture at best. But without warning, the innocence was thrown out of the window when Daniel found Seongwoo blatantly kissing that sensitive nook right beside his adam’s apple.

 

“Not now.” It was just because of sheer power of will alone that Daniel managed to say those words without finding any waverings in his voice, especially when he could feel Seongwoo’s kiss slowly traveling up, lazily tracing along his jaw.

 

“We have an hour for ourselves?” Seongwoo said it not intended as a question, but as a statement. A hard, indisputable statement. And as if he did intend it to be an answer to Seongwoo’s non-question, the sigh that escaped from Daniel’s lips when Seongwoo nipped on his earlobe was definitely not one of annoyance. “We can do _a lot_ in one hour.”

 

Unfortunately, Daniel couldn’t argue with that. And so, when Seongwoo gained an upper hand and pushed him down so that his head was resting against the armrest of the sofa, Daniel gladly let Seongwoo have his ways.

 

They both knew they needed it.

 

“How long has it been?” Daniel mumbled deep into their kiss, the sensation of his lips rubbing against Seongwoo’s chapped pair sent shivers down his spine.

 

Daniel didn’t understand why Seongwoo had to push himself away to give his answer, still unsated from their quick make out session that he even picked up his head from the comfy cradle of a throw pillow just so he could follow Seongwoo’s lips a little while longer.

 

Seongwoo only wanted to see Daniel’s face more clearly, his first for today, now that the fog of sleep had fully lifted from his mind. His gesture of setting aside a stray hair away from Daniel’s face was sweet, but the words that came out from his mouth negated it all,

 

“Long enough for me to forget how awful your breath smells in the morning.”

 

Daniel hasn’t even finished his curse ladened sentence, said lovingly, of course, when a dreaded sound of an evil witch’s cackle boomed through the still air. Tainting the pureness of the morning, and leaving Daniel feeling hot, bothered, _and_ mad. Sexual tension _where._

 

“Tell Jaehwan to fuck off.” This time, the curse word wasn’t said lovingly. Daniel doesn’t always understand the kid’s sense of humour, but in which world is it funny to hard wire your wicked witch of the west laughter as someone else’s ringtone (somehow, no matter how hard Seongwoo tried to change the ringtone to Jaehwan’s incoming message back to some sort of normal, default tone, they couldn’t).

 

Seongwoo was just about to do that, before he read the entirety of Jaehwan’s message and suddenly his eyes grew to the size of a saucer.

 

“I gotta go.”

 

“Tell him to fuck off!”

 

“The little shit managed to get a one day permit to shoot at the national gallery,” Seongwoo half muttered and half wheezed as he dashed around the apartment, doing three things more than his two hands could handle.

 

Switching his pajama bottoms to jeans, Daniel’s decade old t-shirt to _another one_ of Daniel’s decade old t-shirt, a frantic tooth brushing and a quick splash of water on his face, a snatching of an apple from the fruit basket alongside his bulky backpack and Seongwoo was ready to run out the door.

 

“I don’t know when, or even _if,_ I’ll go back here tonight,” Seongwoo said while hopping around trying to get his foot to his running shoes, “you know Jaehwan.”

 

He knew Jaehwan. A perfectionist through and through. (“He wants to be Korean Stanley Kubrick.” “Just tell him to be Korean Kim Jaehwan, I swear to god, that pretentious ass.”)

 

“Don’t wait for me. Oh, and! Tell Woojin I love him.” He gave Daniel’s cheek a sloppy peck and the door closed behind him with a bang too loud for the morning’s stillness.

 

(Not long after, the front door swung open once more and Seongwoo yelled out an _I love you too_ before he was permanently gone for the day.)

 

Daniel was not given any chance to tell Seongwoo that he was still wearing his purple fuzzy socks.

 

Well, what can you do.

 

 _Thursday, Thursday, Thursday._ _Four days down, three days to go. It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay, We’ve done everything so well. We can do this._ I _can do this._

  


_ _ _ _ _

  


**Day 4 - 12 AM**

 

The day started off well.

 

Woojin woke up…

  
  


And that’s it. That was the only thing that went well on the beautiful, sunny Thursday.

 

Woojin woke up at the wrong side of the bed and it has been a nonstop barrage of wails, cries, tantrum throwing, food throwing, toys throwing, basically at this point it was a question of what he hasn’t thrown.

 

Daniel. Poor Daniel was caught in a cloudy, messy ball of panic that sat so deep within his stomach he no longer could tell whether it was an anxiety induced nausea or a full blown appendicitis.

 

The kid did fall asleep earlier that evening, probably out of exhaustion of crying a bucketload of tears. But Daniel hasn’t even managed to clean half of the mess Woojin’d made on his living room before he started to hear the now familiar sound coming from his bedroom.

 

He’d tried everything. Warm milk. Candies. A walk in the park, although that one only lasted for so long, as too many people were giving them the stinky eye and Daniel was too self conscious to trudge on further than a few steps out of his apartment building. Daniel even braved the potential wrath of Yena and called her for some desperate assistance.

 

It didn’t work. Her voice, her singing, her cooing, nothing worked in their attempts at calming Woojin down.

 

Even his own mother eventually had to admit defeat.

 

“I don’t know what’s happening to him Danny, he never acted this way.” Yena, for the first time since she was away, sounded very obviously worried.

 

“Should I go to the doctor?” Daniel didn’t want to say that. He really was trying to leave that option to the very last because the concept of doctors and this previously healthy baby possibly falling ill because of his mishandling was making his head spin.

 

“Yes. Yes I think you should,” she sounded like she was fighting back tears, and it only caused the knot in his stomach to curl up even tighter than before, “just to be safe.”

 

He couldn’t believe he has to also take a moment to have a deep breath before continuing on, “I’ll… call Seongwoo. He can take us to the hospital.” She was already worried for her son, no need to add on to that with a side of a crying sibling.

 

Daniel knew Yena didn’t want to hang up, but she also knew that he only has one phone and that phone was needed to make further arrangements. So with much unwillingness, she sighed out, “please keep me up to date.” The call was terminated in the middle of the word _‘date’_ , as in _‘please keep me up to da-,’_ and then a sharp tap of nails against plastic. As if forcing herself away from the call was the only method she could’ve done such thing.

 

Woojin was cradled in his arm, and they were lying down in his bathtub while Daniel was attempting to call Seongwoo. The odd choice of their place to sit came from the fact that his bathroom was the most isolated point in his apartment. After Woojin’s constant crying for the past 2 hours, it was just magic that nobody had came up and deliver a mad pounding on his door.

 

And with each calls that were missed, the harder he tapped his legs to the side of the tub out of impatience. It was a never ending cycle of him having to remind himself to calm down, before entering another inescapable room labeled _‘panic’_ everytime his call went to Seongwoo’s voicemail.

 

By the time Seongwoo picked up, seven calls later, Daniel was on the verge of breaking down, joining Woojin on his wailings, most probably.

 

“Hey, sorry I left my phone outside the editing room. Is everything okay?”

 

Daniel wanted to say so many things, but the feeling that washed over him when he heard Yena choking on her tears suddenly came back with a vengeance. And to prevent himself from letting go of that tiny ledge of sanity, Daniel could only settle with a very short, very curt, “no.”

 

“No? What do you mean no? Is Woojin okay?” Seongwoo asked when his ears quickly zoned in on the sound of Woojin’s crying that must’ve been picked up by the receiver.

 

“I think we have to take him to the hospital. He’s been crying non stop. And I don’t know why he’s being like this.”

 

If previously he could hear the faint sounds of him walking around Jaehwan’s studio, after Daniel dropped the bomb on him, there was nothing but silence. Not even the sound of his breathing made it through to Daniel’s speaker. And he fully knew what silence means for Seongwoo.

 

“Why didn’t you call me earlier?” His brand of fury is silence, followed suit with a well calculated question that will leave you bathing in cold sweats.

 

Faced with that, Daniel had to shut his eyes for a little while to ground himself through all the guilt. And only then he realised that he’d unknowingly chewed a section of his bottom lip raw. They stung, they _all_ stung. “Please don’t do this to me right now.” _Please don’t be mad at me right now. I’m so tired._

 

“You should’ve called me earlier Daniel!”

 

The sudden raise of Seongwoo’s tone caused him to snap, “I’m sorry, ok?! I didn’t want to disturb you from your movie!” His voice was loud enough to surprise himself, but not loud enough to surprise Woojin, thankfully.

 

“Fuck the movie.” Seongwoo has never stooped so low in his anger as to yell at Daniel. But that day, Daniel learned that Seongwoo was so far from being a saint because he could hear him screaming at Jaehwan, about how he was going to borrow his car for a day. It was not even said as a question. Just an undisputable statement which was punctuated by a loud slamming of a door. “Fuck it all to hell.”

 

Taking care of Woojin was never supposed to be a duty of Seongwoo’s. He was only supposed to be at the present, documenting everything with his tried-and-trusted camcorder. But somehow, he’d found himself becoming much too attached to the kid.

  


_ _ _ _ _  


 

**Day 4.5 - 12.30 AM**

 

“You missed me, didn’t you?” Seongwoo was carrying Woojin around the kitchen, rocking him in his arms and bumping his nose against Woojin’s rosy cheeks, “you were upset I didn’t say good morning earlier, didn’t you?”

 

Daniel, on the other hand, has exchanged the hard surface of his bathtub to the plush surface of his sofa as the place for him to slump out his exhaustion, passively listening to Seongwoo’s mumbles over the loud ringing in his ears. Brought about by the long awaited silence. And peace.

 

“He wanted Seongwoo.” When he could finally call Yena back, the voice that came out from him was worth nothing more but a tired sigh. As long as Yena could still hear it, Daniel wasn’t planning on raising it any more louder. “He wanted Seongwoo, he’s stopped crying now that Seongwoo’s home.”

 

Yena also let out a sigh of her own. But for her, it was one of relief. It was followed soon after by a soft, understanding giggle.

 

“Danny.”

 

“What.”

 

“Will you please just go and marry that boy.”

 

_(I need him to be Woojin’s permanent baby sitter.)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession time: I just realised that this chapter is my first time ever writing two boys kissing and  
> honestly I should stop writing about pinnings and just go on with the domestic romance because IT'S??? GREAT????


	5. Day 5

**Day 5 - 7 AM**

 

Daniel wished that he could just have a good night sleep after the whole mess of yesterday and wake up refreshed at 10 AM. But his biological clock said,  _ ‘no’  _ and he found himself blinking out the rust from the corner of his eyes, the display of his bedside table alarm clock telling him that it’s only 7.02 in the morning.

 

_ ‘Woojin should not wake up until 9,’  _ he thought, or hoped. Mostly hoped. Because he needed this two hours to set some things straight with Seongwoo.

 

They didn’t talk at all since last night. Not about anything important, at least. The last thing Daniel remembered was Seongwoo waking him up after he unknowingly dazed off on the sofa, and telling him to sleep in his room. Daniel asked Seongwoo to join him, but he declined. Citing the need to do some last minute edits if they didn’t want Jaehwan to show up on Daniel’s doorstep with a pitchfork. 

 

_ Well, there’s no going back now.  _

 

Daniel then gingerly stepped out from his room, and after seeing Seongwoo slouching off in the dining room, his tussled hair highlighted by the glow of his laptop and a sad shadow of stubble growing along his jaw, Daniel guessed that Seongwoo hasn’t gotten any ounce of sleep at all.

 

“Still not done yet?” Judging from his reaction, Seongwoo totally didn’t expect Daniel to wake up this early. With one touch on his shoulder, Seongwoo quickly ripped off his earphones and swivelled on the chair, the sound of his backbone cracking caused Daniel to let out a discomforted cringe, “you should rest.” 

 

After knowing that the unexpected presence was just Daniel (and not say, a ghost), Seongwoo let out a long, tired sigh and invited him to take the seat right beside his.

 

“I’m sorry.” He gave the back of Daniel’s hand some hesitant pats, “I didn’t mean to… snap at you last night.”

 

“Well, same for me.” Daniel felt like it should be him who apologize for everything that’d happened, for the disastrous day and his failure to take care of Woojin. Even for the simple act of leaving Seongwoo alone while he himself went to sleep. What an unloyal partner.

 

But they were both tired beyond belief and Daniel had a feeling that unending attempts of trying to apologise will just waste their precious time. More time arguing over who was more at fault means that there would be less time spent  _ sleeping. _

 

“Come,” Daniel stood up and dragged Seongwoo along with him as he made his way back to the bedroom. “Sleep. You’ll thank me for it.”

 

When he heard Seongwoo’s mouth opening to let out a protest, Daniel essentially slapped his palm over Seongwoo’s prickly chapped lips (Daniel made a mental note to tell Seongwoo that he really should start to hydrate himself more), before he sternly said,

 

“I will tell Jaehwan off myself if he dares do anything stupid. The kid should learn a thing or two about patience anyway.”

  
  


_ _ _ _ _

  
  


**Day 5 - 10 PM**

 

Seongwoo was off having his first shower of the day after they got Woojin to sleep, or maybe it was his first in two days. From the overpowering scent of his deodorant that clung around the air long after Seongwoo has left the room, Daniel guessed it was the latter. 

 

_ ‘Being a father is hard,’  _ he sobbed earlier today, eyes red and hair disheveled after clocking in only 2 hours of sleep the day before and after he told Daniel that he was about to do it again today. 

 

“Can't you postpone your youtube videos for a day?” Daniel was sounding pretty tired himself when he couldn’t seem to succeed in finding a place to hide his jar of instant coffee. He was just afraid Seongwoo will have a sudden heart attack from how quick he was guzzling down cups of overly sweetened black coffee. Having to edit his project with Jaehwan alongside his vlogs was clearly taking a toll on him. The baggage under Seongwoo’s eyes were so heavy he would’ve needed to check them in if he was suddenly called for an overseas shoot. 

 

“A promise is a promise.” His barely coherent mumble was cut prematurely by the sound of water running down the shower head and Daniel reluctantly decided to leave him be. If Seongwoo got sick because of this, he’ll be holding Woojin hostage.  _ I’ll release him only if Jinki gave me a full-kneel apology.  _ But Daniel quickly erased that thought from his brain because he couldn’t stand living with that much amount of pettiness. 

 

Daniel was tidying up scrap papers from his earlier arts and crafts session with Woojin, which was more like crayon mayhem and paper tearing competition than art (but nobody was born an instant Leonardo da Vinci, don’t they? Picasso, maybe. Pollock, most probably.  _ Brown on white, brown on white, and yellows _ ), when he heard the satisfying ping sound effect coming out from Seongwoo’s laptop. And suddenly, he was awashed with a strong pull of curiousness. 

 

His new vlog  _ ‘series’  _ has been running for more than half of its allotted time now, as their fifth day of trying to keep a one year old alive was almost coming to an end, and Seongwoo hasn’t been able to stop babbling to Daniel about it. (“Watch it watch it watch it, they’re my magnum opus.” “Seongwoo you’re only 22.” “Mozart composed his first symphony at age 8.” “But that was  _ not  _ his magnum opus, stupid.”)

 

Daniel hasn’t watched any of his Woojin’s vlog series. Truthfully, he never actually watched any of Seongwoo’s vlog. Not from start to finish, that is. Daniel found the act of watching one’s own recorded reflection, and listen to the captured sound of one’s voice, to be the most bizarre, dissociative activity he could ever done. And he has tried LSD. 

 

But he was curious for what kind of filler did Seongwoo chuck in to fluff for day 4, not only because he was away for most of the day, but that Daniel didn’t see him with his camcorder anywhere near all the panic and sleep deprivation. 

 

Not seeing the harm of just scanning through the footage and skipping all the part where he could see his face or hear his voice, Daniel settled down at the dining table and gave Seongwoo’s mouse a little nudge. 

 

_ 1:38 _

 

That’s odd. Seongwoo never published anything shorter than 5 minutes. ‘ _ That’s what lazy cop outs do,’ _ he’d say. So, seeing a final edit of his video that has less than two minutes of run time was well, a blessing for Daniel. 

 

It took him a few seconds after he clicked the play button to notice that the video has already started. The faint piano sound was the only thing that gave it away, as the window was showing nothing but a static pitch black background. 

 

But then he realised, when he saw the hem of his pajama pants as it moved into the path of a sliver of light seeping in from an unknown source, that the video was not just one minute and thirty eight second of darkness and piano music. 

 

It wasn’t only a black background, it was him in his bedroom, sitting down beside Woojin’s little mattress. Nothing more but a faint silhouette outlined by the fuzzy glow of streetlights. A faint silhouette singing a faint lullaby, softly swaying with the rhythm of his song and the slow tides of exhaustion. 

 

The piano was still there when Daniel started his humming, a welcomed transition that held the viewers’ hand while it took them from whatever outside noise was riddling their mind and slowly eased them into the serenity of an almost silence, until they could finally catch his mumbled words a little bit easier. 

 

_ When the rain falls, slowly on the roof _

_ When the cloud parts, and the dark sky makes you cry  _

_ I will hold you, my love _

_ So sleep, sleep my only child _

 

It was a minute and thirty seconds undisturbed shot of him gently overlooking Woojin who was fast asleep, and his hums, lilting out of the speaker. 

  
  


Just like he didn’t know when it started, Daniel didn’t notice he had been staring at a truly black background until suddenly he sensed that Seongwoo was back with him, sitting at the chair right beside his, hands fiddling at the knees of his sweats because he was too afraid to reach out and potentially scare Daniel out of his wits.

 

“Are you okay?” Seongwoo finally asked aloud when he saw Daniel breaking out of his stupor. 

 

It only took them one exchange of looks for Seongwoo to know Daniel’s answer to his question. 

 

As usual, Daniel always wanted to have the last words, even when he was practically ugly-sobbing his eyes out in Seongwoo’s arms while the latter was busy trying to find a way to calm him down. 

 

_ “I hate you so much, you bastard.”  _

 

And this is why he tried to avoid watching Seongwoo’s videos as much as he could. Even in days when he felt brave he would still be afraid to watch them. Because sometimes they felt like a choke hold, forcing all of his emotion to bubble at the back of his throat. But then, sometimes, they would gently pick you off your feet and whisk you away with the beauty he somehow unearthed out of the mundaneness of human life (the 1:38 video was definitely in the first category, judging from Daniel’s reaction to it).

 

In the end, the tinted frames and slight gaussian blur will just make him fall in love with Seongwoo even more than before. And Daniel wasn’t sure if he could handle anymore of that. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I just realised I didn't feature Woojin that much in this chapter....  
> /confession time/ I wrote this chapter after I forgot to wish my mom happy birthday LOL which is why I find the mood to be a bit dark  
> Well every story needs to have its dark moments anyway right? stay tuned for more fluffy ongnieljin next update!


	6. Day 6

**Day 6 - 5 AM**

 

They couldn’t believe they only have one day left with Woojin.

 

“Jinki will pick him up at 10 in the morning, if his flight didn’t get delayed or anything,” Yena told Daniel on their now routine 5 AM morning calls.

 

“Isn’t he… tired? Like, doesn’t he want to chill in your house alone and undisturbed for a day or something like that?”

 

Yena quickly picked on the hesitation in his word and began to tease him mercilessly, “what’s wrong Danny? Why are you suddenly so caring of my Jinki?”

 

“How do we know he can take care of Woojin all on his own? _We don’t trust him.”_ Seongwoo was lounging beside him on the sofa, nodding his head as a sign of agreement to what Daniel was saying. He demanded to be included in this discussion, joining Yena and Daniel’s conversation for the first ever conference call concerning the hand-over of Woojin planned for tomorrow morning,

 

“Since when do you refer to yourself as a plural unit.”

 

“Since you forced us to be Woojin’s guardian.” They both said in unison, and in varying degrees of sleepiness.

 

Yena took a quick pause before continuing, and when she did, Daniel could _hear_ her smile in her words, “I know you’re worried, but Jinki knows what he’s doing, I assure you that. Besides, you can always visit our home to check on him, right?”

 

She has a point, but one look to Seongwoo and they both knew what the other was thinking.

 

They didn’t want to let go of their make-believe family so quickly. Not when they’ve finally learned on how to settle into their roles and find the joy poorly hidden between all the endearing chaos.

 

_ _ _ _ _

  


**Day 6 - 4 PM**

 

“Maybe we could kidnap him and run away.”

 

“I can’t do that. You know my coaching tutorials are mandatory. I can’t skip them.”

 

“Ask for some ransom. He has to stay with us for a minimum of two months in a year. Two months every half a year. Every three months.”

 

The little family of three was spending some alone time acting like any other normal nuclear families on a semi-crowded park near Daniel’s apartment. Covered under the shade of a bushy tree, eating snacks, and scheming some strategies on how to get Woojin to stay with them a little bit longer.

 

They could prove their stellar ability at taking care of this one year old with a very strong, concrete argument courtesy to Seongwoo’s vlog coverage. In one week, they’ve only encountered one blunder. A major one, yes, even though it was hard for Daniel to admit it, but not catastrophic. Besides, everytime Seongwoo tried to bring that topic up, Daniel will just say, “piss face,” and Seongwoo would be silenced. Woojin has been eating really well, he’s been sleeping really well, he’s been playing and picking up new words and being an overall charming little baby.

 

For a first time dads, they didn’t do that bad of a job at all.

 

 _“Wait!_ I have a fantastic idea.” With his mind’s lightbulb suddenly turned on, Seongwoo lurched up from laying down on a throw blanket into an upright sitting position. “Tell them to get a second honeymoon!”

 

“Oh my god... that’s perfect.”

 

In his excitement, Daniel accidentally threw the little pop-up story book he was reading to Woojin to the edge of their makeshift picnic blanket. And in their increasingly heated discussion, Daniel didn’t notice that Woojin wanted it back. He wanted it back _now_.

 

He tried tugging on Daniel’s shirt. Didn’t work. Woojin wanted to reach for Daniel’s arms, but they were somehow… flailed around so wildly around his head. Besides, they were too high for him to reach.

 

The two grown ups didn’t notice him at all. Not even after he let out a few gurgling sound of distress.

 

 _‘Oh bugger.’_ That, or an equivalent of that in baby speech, was what Woojin was thinking about as he looked over to the just barely, _barely_ out of reach storybook.

 

 _Or maybe… maybe I_ could _reach it._ (Or an equivalent of that in baby thought.)

 

Meanwhile, Seongwoo was busy brain mapping their newfound plan that he was totally not paying attention to what was happening right beside him. Typical Seongwoo and his horse blinders. It took Daniel’s hand rapidly tapping his arm before Seongwoo bothered to avert his gaze from the slightly cloudy sky.

 

“Sshh, sshhhh,” Daniel’s taps slowly crawled up, up his shoulders, then his jaw, then right in front of his mouth. But however much Seongwoo wanted to swap it away, he knew he couldn’t.

 

He couldn’t possibly mess up this monumental moment with something as measly as getting annoyed by Daniel’s fingers pressing against his lips.

 

“Get your camcorder outGETYOURCAMCORDEROUTNOW.” Daniel aggressively hissed to Seongwoo’s ears while trying to keep the rest of his body as still as possible. Because Woojin was using his legs as a balancing bar. Because… _he was in the process of taking his first steps._

 

Baby steps. Using his two legs. Little human trying to walk.

 

Seongwoo was thankful he’d considered the camcorder as an extension to his arm, it only took him a fraction of a second to set it up and get it running. Because what happened next happened so quickly it would’ve just be a memory in their minds if Seongwoo wasn’t so quick in capturing it.

 

One step, two steps, three and four.

 

After Woojin was happy with the distance between him and his book, he plopped onto his hands and knees and traversed the little gap with a quick crawl.

 

And when Woojin got his little hands on the little book, he turned around to give Seongwoo and Daniel a satisfied smile. Just then, Daniel felt like he was a dose of cuteness away from shedding a _little_ tear.

 

“He’s too cute why is he so cute,” Daniel let out a long babytalk babble while shifting his sight from the small display of the camcorder and the real view of Woojin as he made his way back, crawling into his arms.

 

Oh, Woojin was in the seventh realm of heaven with all the praises Daniel and Seongwoo was giving him. Hugs and kisses and nose-to-cheek nuzzling, everything that was needed to leave him blubbering over in giggles.

 

“We have a ransom,” Seongwoo was holding his camcorder as if he was a guerilla journalist who just got an incriminating evidence of some important politician. Although, the grin on his face matched the one on Daniel’s lips. A kind of sinister, cheeky, and cunning with kind a tad bit of mischievous twinge to it. Woojin was also grinning, what with the sudden shower of attention from his two ‘new dads’ (and also his achievement in getting back his storybook), albeit it was done in a less macabre fashion. “They gotta let us take care of Woojin if they want to see their first born’s first steps.”

 

“We’re geniuses.”

 

“Well, it’s mostly me and Woojin who kindda did all the work but-,”

 

“I threw the book away.”

 

“But,-”

 

“I _threw_ the book away.”

 

It was a bit of a reach, still, but Daniel has a point. Without motivation, there won’t be any first steps taken.  

  


_ _ _ _ _

  


**Day 6 - 9 PM**

 

Jaehwan has been mysteriously silent in the past few hours, and Seongwoo would not stop worrying about it.

 

“When he bothers you, you nag,” Daniel mumbled while trying to prevent the mouthful of toothpaste froth from spilling out of his mouth, all done at the same time as him trying to keep Woojin from throwing his own toothbrush clean across the bathroom, “when he leaves you alone, you nag too.”

 

Beside him, Seongwoo was drying his hair with one of his own towel that’d mysteriously showed up in Daniel’s laundry rack, “he promised me he’ll give feedbacks on the edit today.”

 

“The guy has his own life, don’t fuss about it too much.” Daniel gave Seongwoo’s neck some soft pats, his fingers cool on his heated skin that was fresh out of a hot shower. Also cool was his lips on Seongwoo’s cheek with breath smelling like spearmint and cinnamons. With all that, it would be a crime if Seongwoo decided to keep on fussing. And so he relented and quietly followed Daniel out of the bathroom, with Woojin perching on his arms like a little koala bear.

 

Little did Seongwoo know, there _was_ a solid reason for Jaehwan’s disappearance. Hidden carefully within Daniel’s phone in a tiny little bit of conversation between the two of them.

 

_‘Don’t bother us today._

_-D.K’_

 

_‘You think I’ll be deterred with that sort of threat?_

_Try again._

_-K.J.H’_

 

_‘I remember you once said it was a dream of yours to have Lee Jinki sing an ost for one of your “projects”, am I right?_

_Well, if that wish still stands,_

_Don’t bother us._

_-D.K’_

 

_‘You’re a monster._

_-K.J.H’_

 

But that was the least of their problem now. They have one very important thing that they needed to do, something that’s been put at the back burner for the last few days that they really, really, _really_ desperately craved.

 

A good night sleep.

 

Even better, that night Daniel finally caved in on Seongwoo’s wish to let Woojin sleep on the same bed as them after repeatedly reassuring him that no, they won’t accidentally smother Woojin with a stray arm or leg or something.

 

“We’ll have the worst time doing our farewells tomorrow.”

 

But Daniel’s worried mutters were met only with the innocent excitement of two kids, there was honestly no evidence of age difference between them when they held up a storybook picked up from the stack lying on the floor beside Daniel’s bed.

 

“It’s the third night in a row now, aren’t you bored of this story Woojin?”

 

It takes a long time for babies to get tired of things they like. Especially for the things they love. And Woojin loves all the sounds that came out of Daniel’s mouth. How he could seemingly imitate the sound of cars driving by, and horns honking, horse galloping, thunders and rain pattering against the roof, everything.

 

Seems that Woojin was getting a little bit too excited from this special, unusual bedtime routine, what with his favourite uncle Seongwoo laughing beside him, when usually he won’t be able to spot him anywhere after Daniel told him it was time for sleep.

 

He just wouldn’t fall asleep.

 

One book turned to two, grew to three, and by the fourth one, Daniel was getting a little bit frustrated.

 

“Ok. You know what. You’re over-stimulating him.”

 

Seongwoo pretended to be exaggeratedly scandalised over Daniel’s accusation, “you’re the one who go about all this so animatedly. Don’t you dare blame me.”

 

And thus, much to Woojin’s disappointment, four turned out to be the last _it_ for Daniel. He rolled off his bed after putting the book back on the tower made out of its brethrens and switched off the light. “We’ll continue tomorrow, okay?” He said those words without giving it a second thought and he made himself sad. It served as a reminder for them that there was _not_ going to be a _tomorrow night_.

 

But at least Woojin didn’t need to know about that. They’ll leave their tearful farewell for tomorrow although nobody in the room was ready to even entertain that possibility.

 

They’ve all snuggled into the blanket and ten minutes have passed in silence, but Woojin was still tossing and turning and playing with his toy car (nobody knew how did it even ended up on the bed in the first place) with no apparent intention to sleep anytime soon.

 

“Danny,” Seongwoo whispered while flicking his fingers on Daniel’s elbow, “sing to him.”

 

Daniel slowly opened his eyes and sighed, “not today.” He took the red toy car from Woojin and set it aside on the floor, followed immediately by pulling him to a hug and patting him softly on his back to stop Woojin from getting upset over that action.

 

“Then, may I?”

 

Daniel denied the offer not because he was uncomfortable with singing in front of other people (especially people with high enough cognitive functioning who will be able to give some criticism). He denied the offer because after the 1:38 minute video debacle from two days ago, he was struggling with the concept that maybe he really _did not_ want to part with Woojin. Singing a lullaby would just seal everything up in a nice, tidy bow, and he didn’t want to do that.

 

But it seems that Seongwoo wanted to do that, and before Daniel could stop him, he already started.

 

Woojin has calmed down considerably from Daniel’s hug. And with the addition of Seongwoo’s voice, it didn’t take long before he stopped playing with the sleeve of Daniel’s shirt and let the tides of sleep carry him away.

 

Seongwoo’s singing has always been slightly airy, perfect for lullabies, Daniel thought. When whispered it sounded like mere wind slipping by the window. When sung, it caused Daniel’s finger to fiddle nervously with the back of Woojin’s pajama, something he didn’t realise he was doing until Seongwoo pried them off and linked it with his own.

 

When the song went away to a hushed end, Seongwoo leaned in. First to wish Woojin goodnight, whispered quietly with a kiss on his temple, then secondly to also give Daniel his own soft, lingering goodnight kiss, “sleep tight.”

 

Too lazy to put a distance between them, too tired to truly process the literal meaning of Seongwoo’s words, Daniel mumbled back the first thing that seeped to the forefront of his mind,

 

“Hm… love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG ONE LAST DAY ONE LAST DAAAAAAAY  
> /sings one day more/


	7. Day 7

**Day 7 - 10 PM**

 

One downside of going to sleep at 9 PM is finding yourself awake and refreshed at 3 AM.

 

Well, at least then Daniel could drag Seongwoo’s ass to help him pack up the mountain of Woojin’s trinkets and necessities back to their neatly labelled boxes.

 

(Which means they also have plenty of hours to fool around with no risk of getting disturbed by the sound of crying babies or witches’ laughter. So, win win?) 

 

It was probably the reason for why Daniel could greet Jinki with a smile on his face, instead of the usual frown he would sport when occasions like this presents itself to him. 

 

“Good morning!” Without hesitation, Jinki essentially leaped from his spot and gave Daniel a big hug. Jinki’s lack of reservation for personal space often makes him wonder how Yena could stand falling in love with an overgrown golden retriever puppy. 

 

(The same question posits itself on Daniel but he never realised it.)

 

“How are you?” Jinki patted Daniel’s back and propelled himself into the living room, seemingly unable to wait any longer to be reunited with his son.

 

“And how’s my Woojin?” He only gave Seongwoo a quick grin before he swooped a very pleasantly surprised Woojin out of his chair, giving his cheek a big kiss while bringing the kid up and down in a self-made rollercoaster ride. 

 

It almost made Seongwoo’s heart leap out of his throat, but Daniel’s quick response of arm restraints stopped Seongwoo from screaming  _ ‘STOP DOING THAT RIGHT NOW.’  _

 

Between his giggles, they both could hear Woojin say the word, “dada” in such a loving way that simultaneously, they felt their heart sinking to the bottom of their stomachs. 

 

“I guess… we could never be his dad.” Daniel looked to Seongwoo with bitter smile on his face, and he swore he could see the buds of disappointment-induced tears collecting at the corner of Seongwoo’s eyes. 

 

Between that, and them busy packing in Woojin’s things into Jinki’s car, the next time they could get back to their one week loaned baby was when they have to say their farewells. 

 

“We will see you next week, it’s a promise.” They took turns waving their hands to Woojin and giving him forehead kisses, ignoring the fact that they were disturbing Jinki’s effort in buckling him into his car seat. Seongwoo also managed to snuck in his camcorder, and spent a considerable amount of time telling Jinki to step aside for a while so he could get a good shot. And probably because he was familiar with the plight of cameramen looking for the  _ good shot _ , he did willingly step aside and allowed Seongwoo to play pretend, essentially. Because they all knew he must’ve captured everything he needed long ago. 

 

That was a good thing though. Any method that could be employed to stretch their goodbyes would always be a good thing. 

 

“Thankyou so much for taking care of Woojin,” Jinki gave them both a hug, the second hug of the day for Daniel, lingering longer around Seongwoo because he just had to give him his praises for the vlogs. “It really helped me with my homesickness.” 

 

“I’m glad it helped,” from the tone of his voice and his understanding smile, it seemed that Seongwoo was warming up more than a little bit to Jinki. And to think for a second that Daniel had finally managed to recruit Seongwoo into the _ ‘I don’t know what’s the reason behind it, but I kindda dislike Jinki’ _ club. It seemed that he has to be content with being the sole member of that club for another long while.

 

“Say bye to your uncles Woojin!” 

 

He waved his arms around, adorably so, while Jinki backed his car from the parking spot. 

 

They were quite surprised for the lack of tears in the kid’s eye. Both of them were expecting double waterfalls, thunderstorm, tantrum throwing festival. But no. Woojin appeared to be really happy to be able to see his dad again and the wide smile he had as the car window rolled up showed nothing but excitement. 

 

They should’ve felt good that it happened this way. Clean and drama-free. But of course they were slightly upset, because weren’t they worth at least a little bit of tears? Or any display to show that Woojin was unwilling to part? 

 

But  _ at least _ it gave them knowledge that the farewell wasn’t painful or distressing in Woojin’s part. And in the grand scheme of things, it was a much, much better outcome compared to a tear-jerking fest. 

 

“So… what do you think about raising our own baby?” With his head resting on Daniel’s shoulder, Seongwoo completely missed the bright, embarrassed smile blooming onto Daniel’s face.

 

“Doesn’t seem to be a bad idea.” He shook Seongwoo’s cheek off his shoulder with a shrug, before walking back to the coolness of his apartment building. He could hear Seongwoo and the sound of his laughter following him closely,

 

“I’m glad to see improvements in you since last time.”

 

“I was  _ eighteen, _ for god sake. The last thing I had in my mind was hitching off with a stranger.” 

 

But now he was twenty one, a year away from graduating from university, and Seongwoo was no longer just a stranger crazy enough to ask  _ ‘will you marry me’ _ after they had their first date. The concept of ‘something more’ has never sounded so tempting to him until that very moment. 

 

_ _ _ _ _ 

  
  


**Day 7 - 8 PM**

 

They were eating their pizza dinner while catching up with TV shows they’ve missed throughout the week when Daniel’s phone rang with the more than familiar tune. A special one set for his one and only sister.

 

Even before anything else, they could hear a defeated sigh coming from the speaker right after Daniel pressed the green circle. 

 

“He’s crying again.” 

 

Daniel’s head snapped to look at Seongwoo the exact same moment when Seongwoo gave his arm a sharp, excited punch. 

 

“Jinki is…  _ quite _ overwhelmed.” Yena must’ve been pinching the bridge of her nose because her next words came out a little blocked out and quiet,

 

“Can you please go to my house and help them out until I’m home this Wednesday?” 

  
  
  


**Day 1 -**

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg it's the end T.T   
> It's been a really enjoyable journey with the faux-fam i love them so much...  
> pls love ongniel and woojin and everyone else they're too precious


End file.
